My thanks to Vincent Brown for spotting this story in Spiegel. If anybody has missed the background to the allegations of theft against Howard Carter, then it's worth reading.
There is no proof, but the circumstantial evidence that Howard Carter removed items from Tutankhamun's Valley of the Kings tomb is substantial. Articles from King Tut's tomb are in a number of museums around the world, not just in the Egyptian Museum. The largest and best known collection of other objects is in the Met and their existence has been in the public domain since the 70s when advertised by Thomas Hoving. The Spiegel article also identifies an object in the Louvre which is one I hadn't heard about.
It is true that Carter had permisson to remove some items, but the number in circulation seems inconsistent with this. However the complex legal status of the tomb in the 1920s muddies the water enough that an amateur like me is unable to understand whether the allegations against Carter are well-founded; however, nor do I feel able to exonnerate him. What is perhaps most surprising is that Egypt is not pressing for the return of these articles. That suggests that Carter did obtain them legally. (The conspiracy theorists have an alternative explanation which suggests that Carter removed papyrii relating to the Exodus and that there is therefore a reluctance to re-open the question of the clearance of KV62. The story was covered by Andrew Collins in his book, Tutankhamun - The Exodus Conspiracy.)
If Carter did illegally obtain items from KV62, and enter the tomb in advance of the offical opening, then we no longer know the state of the tomb at discovery. Archaeologically that may be more important than the removal of a small number of items. Read the article and make your own mind up.
With thanks to Magus, Mary Crowther and Roger Hubert, here is a free version of Howard Carter talking about Tutankhamun's Valley of the Kings tomb.
I'm putting together another Squidoo lens, this time bringing together some of the old photographs of the Valley of the Kings and the clearance of Tutankhamun's tomb. I'll promote it here when I am happy with it.
In the meantime though, I found a recording on Amazon which I have never heard before of Howard Carter himself speaking of opening the tomb. I've never heard this before - I didn't even realise it existed! There is a preview of the first bit. Sadly it will cost you the usual MP3 download fee if you wish to hear it all, but MP3 downloads are only pennies. I'll keep looking and see if there is a free version of it anywhere. But if you are interested in the history of the Valley of the Kings
There is a series of articles about his visit to Luxor. On his own blog, there is a photo of Dr Hawass investigating the mummy of Tutankhamun. Jane Akshar has a 3 parter covering his visits to Carter House, Deir-el-Bahri (Temple of Hatshepsut) and the Mosque of Abu Haggag.
